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Friday, March 8, 2013

The War Years Book - A Preview

*Look for a new posting each Tuesday and Friday*

This past Tuesday's post discussed the latest book project my daughter Amanda and I are putting the finishing touches on. We indicated that we would begin to provide some "teasers" about the book if there seemed to be some interest. Well we have indeed received some interest for hard copies when they are available, so I thought I would dangle a few more "crumbs" to our audience.

What follows is the entire "Foreword" of the book written by Amanda and an abbreviated version of my "Introduction" to James Neville and Catherine: The War Years. Beginning next week we will begin posting excerpts of the first two or three chapters so that the readers can get an idea of the start of the adventure of our title characters. [You can find Chapters One, Two, and Two-A here.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Foreword, by Amanda LeDuke

This
is not just a book of love letters, though every letter is full of
love. It is a story of a private in the army who is proud to be
serving, but unsure of what his true contribution is. It is a tale of
his wife, left behind in small-town Tennessee, charged with raising
their two children, taking over his job, dealing with sugar and butter
rations, and trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy. It is one
man’s account of the foibles of Army life and the insane bureaucracy he
sees in its every existence. It is a testament to the importance of
friends old and new, the family and support systems in their community,
and the faith that strengthened both of them as they learned to live
without one another for 26 long months. And yes, it is a chronicle of
the great love of James Neville and Catherine, a love that is not the
least bit dimmed eight years after their life together began.

It
is almost impossible to tell just one of these stories, and equally hard
to do justice to them all. They are all intertwined. James Neville’s
battles with his feet after every 10 mile hike allow him to have
something in common with Catherine’s constant wrangling with flat
tires. The hours (and pages) spent wondering where James Neville would
be shipped off to next is balanced with the constancy of Catherine
writing a daily letter to her soldier as the sun sets on the front porch
and her writing starts to slant as the light wanes. The “pop culture”
of the day, the now-familiar movies, songs, books, and radio soap operas
they discuss are juxtaposed with strange things like the inability to
find a pen that works for longer than one letter, stamps that are only
three cents, and lots of talk about “getting a line out” to make a
telephone call. They are patriotic and proud. They are lonely and full
of animus for the War. Through all of it they maintain an unbelievable
relationship, built on communication and mutual respect, full of
passion and love, sustained with their letters, which are sometimes
stilted because of the delay in sending and receiving and sometimes read
like they’re having a conversation in real time.

There may be
thousands of stories like this one, for many men who enlisted in the
service during those War years were married, and many of them had a deep
love for their families. Some of them were probably ambivalent about
their being in the Army and wanted nothing more than to come home to
their wives. Many of those women took over their husbands jobs at home,
began to wear pants, struggled with child care, and listened eagerly
for news of peace on their radios. If that is the case, that this story
is not unique, then perhaps it is just good luck that we have over a
thousand letters from these two people, so well-written and preserved to
tell the stories of many.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Introduction, by James N. LeDuke, Jr.

Deciphering the two distinct sets of handwriting was one of the first real challenges, but like learning a foreign language their writing styles soon began familiar. Making decisions about what information to pick from each letter was difficult at first but soon it became obvious that at least half of either writer’s letters would be made up of the same theme; repeated in an exciting variety of ways. “I love you, I love you, I love you” became a catch phrase for the authors of this book; so much so that to this day those words stream across the computer in Cumming, Georgia as the “screen saver” for the monitor.James Neville gives us a running account of the activities of a new recruit in the World War II era Army. His trials and tribulations as a “Sad Sack” private are often funny, painful, frustrating, endearing, and always sad as he expresses his longing to be back home with his bride.

Catherine has taken over James Neville’s job as a Rural Mail Carrier for the Tiptonville Post Office working six days a week alongside the other rural mail carrier, her father-in-law, Ben Neville LeDuke. In 1944 mail carriers used their own cars to deliver mail, making out a bi-weekly expense voucher that was supposed to reimburse them for the gas they used and an assist for a portion of the wear and tear on their vehicle.

In addition to the mail route Catherine had the additional responsibility of raising their three year old daughter, Cathie and their one year old son Jimmy. Adding to the fun at 114 LeDuke Street was a dog, 3 hens with 15 baby chicks, and a vegetable garden known in those days as a “Victory Garden.” Catherine was lucky to have a large support family of several Aunts, Uncles, and In-laws that often came in handy. What Catherine did not have, she would soon learn, was a dependable automobile and a set of good tires.

Many of their letters have been included in this book; some are scanned exactly as they came out of the envelopes while others have been retyped to save the reader some “deciphering” time. The story told that connects the letters and moves our central characters along from “camp” to “camp” is as close to accurate as the authors could make it. Very little of their emotional journey is edited. James Neville’s occasional “cuss” words and Catherine’s beautiful, poetic writing style give the readers clues to the kind of warm, loving, caring parents, teachers, and friends they become to a whole town full of people.

If there is any regret in writing this book, it is the knowledge that Amanda LeDuke and James N. LeDuke, Jr. absorbed so much more from the actual reading of each individual letter than we were able to pass on. We hope that from our writing effort, you are able to glean a fraction of what we were able to learn about the very real James Neville and Catherine.

1 comment:

I am waiting for the hard copy of the book. Mr. James Neville and "Miss" Catherine were both special people, to me, in high school. The only book I have kept through the years is my 4th year Latin book. (4th. year is correct=the only student in that class, sitting with the 2nd year students.

I placed third in the Mid= South 4th year Latin Tournament. "Miss" Catherine has remained my friend. We have belonged to the same woman's club and many years with the Lake County Historical Society. A wonderful lady!!!